Lai Pei-Yu, Shih Tai-Yu, Chang Yu-Huan, Chou Ya-Shuan, Wu Ting-Hua, Su Yu-Ya, Chang Chung-Hsing, Kuo Wen-Chuan
Institute of Biophotonics, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Institute of Biophotonics, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
JID Innov. 2021 Mar 18;1(2):100010. doi: 10.1016/j.xjidi.2021.100010. eCollection 2021 Jun.
Melanoma is a high-risk skin cancer because it tends to metastasize early and ultimately leads to death. In this study, we introduced a noninvasive multifunctional optical coherence tomography (MFOCT) for the early detection of premetastatic pathogenesis in cutaneous melanoma by label-free imaging of microstructures (i.e., providing the thickness and the scattering information) and microcirculation (i.e., providing depth-resolved angiography and lymphangiography). Using MFOCT-based approaches, we presented an in vivo longitudinal observation of the tumor microenvironment in ; mice with inducible melanoma monitored for 42 days. Quantitative analysis of MFOCT images identified an increased number of lymphatic and vascular vessels during tumor progression and faster lymphangiogenesis (beginning on day 21) than angiogenesis (beginning on day 28) in the melanoma microenvironment. We further observed lymphatic vessel enlargement from the first week of melanoma development, implying tumor cells interacting with the vessels and increased likelihood of metastasis. MFOCT identified cutaneous melanoma‒associated angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis before the possible visual perception of the tumor (≥42 days) and before metastasis could be diagnosed using micropositron emission tomography (35 days). Thus, the proposed quantitative analysis using MFOCT has the potential for early detection of cutaneous melanoma progression or prediction of metastatic melanoma in a mouse model. However, retrospective and extensive experiments still need to be performed in the future to confirm the value of MFOCT in clinical application.
黑色素瘤是一种高风险的皮肤癌，因为它往往早期就会发生转移并最终导致死亡。在本研究中，我们引入了一种非侵入性多功能光学相干断层扫描（MFOCT）技术，通过对微观结构（即提供厚度和散射信息）和微循环（即提供深度分辨血管造影和淋巴管造影）进行无标记成像，用于早期检测皮肤黑色素瘤的转移前发病机制。使用基于MFOCT的方法，我们对可诱导黑色素瘤的小鼠进行了42天的体内长期观察，以研究肿瘤微环境。对MFOCT图像的定量分析表明，在肿瘤进展过程中，黑色素瘤微环境中的淋巴管和血管数量增加，且淋巴管生成（从第21天开始）比血管生成（从第28天开始）更快。我们进一步观察到，从黑色素瘤发展的第一周起淋巴管就开始扩张，这意味着肿瘤细胞与血管相互作用，转移可能性增加。MFOCT在肿瘤可能被肉眼察觉（≥42天）之前以及在使用微正电子发射断层扫描诊断转移（35天）之前，就识别出了皮肤黑色素瘤相关的血管生成和淋巴管生成。因此，所提出的使用MFOCT的定量分析方法在小鼠模型中具有早期检测皮肤黑色素瘤进展或预测转移性黑色素瘤的潜力。然而，未来仍需要进行回顾性和广泛的实验以证实MFOCT在临床应用中的价值。
